Chapter Thirty-Four: Standoff

"Lin Erlang, who told you to mess with these things? Do you know how much money and effort our factory spent on this machine tool? There's still a batch of precision parts waiting to be processed, and now you've ruined it. How am I supposed to explain this to the shipyard? You're so careless; I think you might as well quit this job!"

Lin Erlang took a deep breath, suppressing the violence in his heart. He had been tricked today. The machine tool had been making strange noises yesterday, but no one paid attention. Today, the workshop director asked him to go to the machine tool to get samples. As soon as he got close, the parts on the machine tool fell off, and then the whole machine tool fell apart, so badly that it couldn't be put back together!

"Director Zhang, give me three days, and I will find a way to find the real cause of the machine tool malfunction!"

"You still won't admit that you caused this?"

Lin Erlang raised his eyes and stared straight at the workshop director.

"The director is unwilling to give you three days. Is he hiding something and afraid I'll find out something?"

The workshop director immediately reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, raising his voice several decibels: "What nonsense are you spouting? Since you want to investigate, I, Jin Miao, will give you three days. If you can't find anything after three days, you can pack your bags and get out of here."

Lin Erlang said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, if they can't find anything after three days, even if you don't let me leave, I won't be able to stay here on my own!"

After Lin Erlang finished speaking, he gave the other person a meaningful look, then turned around and went back to his workstation!

In fact, one day would have been enough for him to find out everything, but he insisted on waiting three days to do so. As a result, the anger of the factory director and the shipyard was not something a mere workshop director could bear!

Just then, someone outside the workshop suddenly shouted, "Lin Erlang, your sister is here!"

Before she finished speaking, two figures walked in. The young, unmarried men in the workshop stared wide-eyed the moment they saw Lin Baozhu.

You nudge me with your elbow, I nudge him with my chin, and we all whisper to each other.

"Lin Erlang is of average appearance, but I didn't expect his sister to be even prettier than the celebrities in the posters."

"I don't know if she has a boyfriend or not. If she doesn't, I can offer myself." The man said, spitting into his palm and then rubbing it on his head.

"You're kidding me. With your looks and age, you wouldn't even pass Lin Erlang's test."

"Hey, what are you talking about? I may not be good-looking and I'm a bit old, but I'm a full-time employee and I earn more than twenty yuan a month."

"A toad wants to eat swan meat."

Lin Erlang looked at Lin Baozhu walking towards him, let out a breath, and then put on a smile.

Lin Baozhu is quick-witted

Even though Lin Erlang was very good at disguising himself, she could still sense that he was in a bad mood.

Based on the conversation she vaguely overheard before entering the workshop, she glanced at the disassembled machine tool, which was so easy to reassemble that it would be a piece of cake, but...

She glanced at Lin Erlang who was walking forward. "Why let the good stuff go to outsiders?" Although the machine tool was broken, wasn't this a learning opportunity for Lin Erlang?

Thinking of this, she suddenly laughed out loud: "Second brother, today my third brother and I came to town to see you and your wife. We thought you were still at work, so we came to the factory to take a look. I didn't expect that our machine factory still has East German DIN 8600 series lathes. It's a pity that they've fallen apart."

Lin Baozhu's words silenced the previously noisy factory, which then erupted into a heated discussion.

"How would Lin Erlang's sister know about DIN8600?"

"It must have been Lin Erlang who told her."

“DIN8600, apart from a few professionals, nobody knows this model number. Lin Erlang has only been in our workshop for two days, how could he possibly know this model of machine tool?”

A booming voice suddenly rang out from the workshop entrance: "What are you all doing gathered together? Don't you have anything better to do? Huh??"

Upon seeing the newcomer, the workshop foreman hurriedly bowed and stepped forward, his face full of flattery, saying, "Oh, factory manager, you're still not well, why did you come over?"

"I'm fine, oh my god..."

The factory manager shoved the workshop foreman aside, strode to the broken machine tool, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot, and roared, "Who did this?! This machine tool is..."

Before the factory manager could finish speaking, the workshop director hurriedly said, "Factory manager, Lin Erlang..."

Zhigang came, but he didn't do it on purpose, he..."

"Director Zhang, the matter hasn't been investigated yet, and you're already so eager to label my second brother? Are you trying to cover up the truth?"

"What do you know, you little brat? This machine was broken by your brother, and all the workers in the workshop can testify to that!"

"May I ask, sir, when was this machine tool disassembled?"

"It broke apart right after your second brother touched it!"

"Second brother, from yesterday until you finished work, were you always surrounded by someone?"

Seeing her serious expression, Lin Erlang, though unsure why she asked, nodded truthfully: "There were always people in the factory. After work, I left with Xiao Li."

"very good."

After Lin Baozhu finished speaking, she looked up at everyone present and said, “As you all may not know, for this machine tool to fall apart like this, a support screw inside needs to be removed. However, after removing the screw, the machine can still run for a few hours, but because it lacks the support of the screw, the machine will make abnormal noises. If left unattended, the machine tool will not only fall apart, but also damage the precision parts inside! You might as well look around the fallen machine tool to see if there is a support screw. If not, it means that something has been removed. They are quite bold to dare to damage state property. If you ask me, this is too serious. It is better to report it to the police.”

After Lin Baozhu finished speaking, she stared intently at the workshop director. When she noticed the fleeting panic in his eyes, she let out a cold laugh.

What a despicable scoundrel! He uses state property as a raft for his own selfish gain. This kind of person is the one who should be sent to a farm for reform.

"Stop talking nonsense. This machine is an important asset of our machine factory. Who would damage it for no reason? Besides, you said it yourself, that screw is only two meters long. But how big is this machine? It's not that easy to find that two-meter thing in this pile of things."

Lin Baozhu raised an eyebrow and chuckled: "That's easy. Once the machine tool is assembled, we'll know in a moment if any parts are missing."

“You make it sound so easy. This machine tool is imported from Germany. To assemble it properly, we need to bring in a specialist from the city. But the shipyard has a batch of precision parts that need to be produced. This is a matter of national importance and cannot be delayed.”

Lin Baozhu looked at the other person's indignant expression and sneered disdainfully: "You can't even pretend to know something this simple? How dare you take a government salary?"